Afghan militants yesterday released a video showing the three frightened foreign U.N. workers who were kidnapped last week and who have been threatened with death unless the United Nations and British troops leave Afghanistan.

The militants, from a group called the Army of Muslims, also demanded the freedom of Muslim prisoners in U.S. jails.

The hostages, who had helped organize Afghanistan’s first election last month, would be executed in three days if their demands were not met, said the militant’s spokesman, Ishaq Manzoor. “The Afghan government and their foreign masters would be responsible if we got rid of the hostages,” he said.

But Akbar Agha, the leader of this Taliban splinter group, insisted it had set no deadline.